Aerial bomb



2 SHEETS-SHEET Patented Jan. 6, 1920. v

m ENTOR excl/@025 WITNESSES ATTORNEYS J. 1. McINTYRE.

I R m 2 m U N m N E CL 1 R v, T w W. V s 2 Patented Jan. 6, 1920.

Jul 1 1C1 WITNESSES use is made of a casing sive charge and providedwith a tail, a per- UTED srn'rns JOSEPH MCINTYRE, O

r BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

AERIAL 3on Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 6, 1920.

Application filed September 1, 1917. Serial No. 189,362.

To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known that I, Josnrn' J. MOINTYRE,

. a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of NewYork, borough of Brook- York, have invented a new and Improve AerialBomb, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved aerial bombintended to be dropped from an aeroplane, dirigible or other air craft,and arranged to permit of safely handling the aerial bomb to insurepositive explosion thereof as soon as 1 t strikes an object in itsflight or at the exp ration of a predetermined period of time.

Another object is to cause the casing of the aerial bomb to break upinto numerous small pieces-and thus act similarly to shrapnel.

In order to accomplish the desired result,

' filled with an explocussion cap held on the said. tail and extendinginto said charge, a plunger slidable in thesaid tail and adapted to firethe said percussion cap, a fan, and a screw screwing in the said plungerand adapted to unscrew out of the same to release the plunger. Use isalso made of intersecting grooves on the inner face of the casing tofracture the latter along the grooves on the bursting of the casing tobreak the latter into uniformly small pieces.

A practical embodiment of the invention is "represented in theaccompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in whichsimilar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all theviews. Figure 1 is a side elevation of the aerial bomb; v

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional-plan view of the same on the line 33 ofFig. 1

Fi 5 is a similar view of another modified orm of a portion of theaerial bomb.-

The casing 10 of the aerial bomb is filled with an exp osive 11 in whichshrapnel 12 is embedded, as plainlyv indicated in Fig; 2. The casinglOis provided with a tail 13 aving a tubular stem 14 and wings 15extending therefrom, and thehtem 12 is provided with a lining 16carrying at Fi 4 is a sectional side elevation of a. modified form of aportion of the aerial its lower end a extending withpercussion cap orpr1mer17 portion of in the charge 11. In the upper the lining 16 is 20terminating at its lower end in a pin 21 adapted to pass into thepercussion cap or primer 17 to fire the latter with, a ,view to firing'the charge 11 whenever the bomb strikes an object in its flight. In thepluner 20 screws a screw 22 extending through a cap 23 held on'the upperend of 16. On the upper outer end of the screw 22 is secured a fan 24;rotating during the scent of the bomb to unscrew the screw 22 out of theplunger plunger. A light' cord or] similar retaining means 25 isthreaded through registering apertures 26 and '27 formed in the plunger20 and the lining 16, and this cord is broken bv the downward movementof the released plunger 20 at the time the bomb strikes an object in itsflight, it being understood that 'theplunger prior to this action wasreleased by the screw 22 screwing out of the stem. It is understoodthat-when the bomb is droppe by an aviator the fan 24: is set in motionan the screw 22 screws out of the plunger 20,.

but the latter is held against downward movement by the cord. 25 untilthe bomb strikes an object in its flight so that the impact causes theplunger 20-to move downward and break the cord 25. The plunger in itsdescent finally causes the pin 21 to fire the percussion cap 17 and thelatter fires the charge llwhereby the bomb is bursted and the shrapnel12 scattered together with the pieces of the bursted casing .10.

In order, to formly sized small parts, of the casing is provided grooves30 (see casing to break along the grooves into a large number of smallpieces which act the same as shrapnel 12.

In order to prevent the plunger 20 from turning in the lining 16, use ismade of a pin 40 extending through the'lining 16 into a groove 41 formedin the upper on of the plunger 20. It is understood that the pin 40 doesnot prevent the plunger 20 from dropping as the groove 41- extends tothe top end of the plunger.

In llow a pra break the casing 16 into unithe inner. surface withintersecting order to a tically unremounted to slide a plunger 7 thelining 20 ,thus releasing the Figs. 2 and 4:) to cause the:

d so

lining 16, the plunger is provided with a central opening 42 connected gwith the threaded bore in which screws the screw 22, the lower end ofthe opening 42 having branch openings 43 at the pointed end of theplunger to allow the air in the lining 16 to pass through the opening 42and the threaded bore after the screw 22 has screwed out of the plungeras previously explained.

The two diametrically opposite Wings 15 are provided at their upper endswith a bail 45 to handle the bomb. In order to prevent the fan 24 fromaccidentally rotating use is made of a stop rod 50 mounted to slide in abearing 51 secured on one of the wings 15. The bearing 51 is providedwith a slot 52 through which extends a screw 53 screwing in the rod 50to hold the latter normally in uppermost position with the upper end inengagement with one of the vanes of the fan 24 thus preventing the fan24 from rotating. Prior to dropping the bomb the rod 50 is moveddownward to disengage and release the fan 24.

The lower end of the casing 10 is provided with a head 60 carryinga-percussion cap or a primer 61 extending into the charge 11. Thepercussion cap or primer 61 is adapted to be fired by a pin 62 formed,on the upper end of a plunger 63 terminating at its lower end in a head64. The plunger 63 is mounted to slide in a screw 65 screwing in thehead 60. The lower end of the screw 65 is provided with a fan 66 set inmotion on dropping the bomb to screw the screw 65 upward in the head 60.The plunger 63 is provided with a reduced portion 67 engaged by a pin 68held on the screw 65.

' When'the bomb is dropped the fan 66 screws up the screw 65 in the head60 until the pin- 68 abuts against the under side of the head 60 thuspreventing further turning of the screw 65. During this upward screwingmovement of the screw 65 the pin 62 is carried within a short distanceof the fulminate in the percussion cap or primer 61, and when the head64 of the plunger 63 finally strikes the object then the plunger 63 ismoved farther upward and the pin 62 engages the fulminate and thus firesthe percussion cap or primer 61 thereby firing the charge 11. From theforegoing it will be seen that should either of the two devices at thehead and tail ends of the casing fail to do its work properly the otheris liable to do so thus insuring explosion of the bomb. The fan 66 isnormally held against rotation by a rod- 70 similar to the rod 50 andmounted to slide in' a bearing 71 attached to the casing 10. A screw 72screwing on the bearing 7l engages the rod 70 to hold.

the latter in extended position, and on permit the aviator toconveniently meme? screw the screw rod 85 upward and into engagementwith the percussion cap or primer 82 to fire the same thus causingexplosion of the charge in the casing 80. It will be noticed that inthis arrangement the bomb is exploded at a predetermined time,

that is, according to the distance the. screw 85 is turned by the fan 86until the percussion cap or primer 82 is exploded during the flightofthe aerial bomb. v The percussion caps or primers 17, 61 and 82 arepreferably provided at their inner ends with a charge of fulminate, butinstead of such percussion cap or primer an ordinary percussion cap 90may be employed, as shown, for instance, in Fig. 5. In thls case the rim91 of the percussion cap rests on a cap 92 screwing on the inner end ofthe lining 16 of the tail 14. The percussion'cap 90 is exploded by thepin 21 of the plunger 20 in the manner previously explained.

' Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent 1. An aerial bomb, comprising a casing filledwith an explosive charge and provided with a head, a percussion cap heldon the said head and extending into the said charge, a screw screwing onthe said head and provided with a fan, a detonating plungerslidable inthe screw and having a head adapted to strike an object, and l1m1tingmeans on the said screw to l1m1t the screwing movement thereof and thatof the plunger.

2. An aerial bomb, comprising a caslng filled with an explosive chargeand provided with a head and a tail, detonators extending into thecharge, one being held on the head and the other on the tail, ascrewscrewlng in the said head and provided with a fan, a detonatinghead plunger slidably mounted in the said screw and adapted to fire thedetonator in the head, a detonating tail plunger slidable in thesaidtail, a screw screwing in the said tail plunger, and a fan on thesaid tailv plunger screw.

3. An aerial bomb, comprising a casing in the said screw and adaptedto'fire the detonator in the head, a detonating tail plunger slidable inthe said tail, a screw screwig in the said tail plunger, a fan on thesaid tail plunger screw, and fragile means connecting the said tailplunger with the said tail.

4. An aerial bomb, comprising a casing filled with an explosive charge,percussion caps in the lower and upper ends of the said casing andextending into the charge, a tail on the upper end of the casing andhaving a tubular stem, a tubular head on the lower end of the casing andhaving an interior screw thread, a tall plunger slidablc in the saidstem and adapted to fire the said tail percussion cap, a fragile holdingmeans holding the said tail plunger in non-firing position, a tailplunger screwing in the said tail plunger and provided at its upper and20 outer end with a fan, a head screw screwing in the said head andprovided with a fan, a head plunger slidable in the said screw anadapted to fire the said head percussion cap, the said head plungerhaving a reduced por- 25 tion, and a pin held on the said head screw andengaging the said reduced portion, the said pin being adapted to abutagainst the said head to limit the screwing movement of the said headscrew.

JOSEPH J. MCINTYRE.

